Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Race Recap: Gasparilla Distance Classic Marathon, Tampa, FL

"Having made the trip to run The Myrtle Beach marathon on February 13th that was cancelled due to snow, I did not want to let February pass without running a marathon. A quick view of Marathonguide.com led me to the Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa, Florida.. Saturday would include a 15k followed by a 5k.(last year Ryan Hall ran the 15k). Sunday would include a half marathon and a full marathon. There were over 24,000 runners in all of the races combined so it made for a town full of runners. Several runners I met were running the 15k and 5k on Saturday as well as either the half or full on Sunday. I chose to just run the full on Sunday. I did enjoy watching the other races on Saturday and walking around the very nice expo.

A 6am start on Sunday made for an early morning to get some breakfast before the race. The race runs along Tampa's' Bay shore Drive and is a beautiful scenic and very flat course. Going into the race I had the same goals I normally have that include requalifying for Boston. For me this means running a 3:20 to go to Boston in 2011. I ran Boston last year and requalified again for this coming year but need to start working to qualify for next year. In addition to the 3:20 goal I also always have a second goal of finishing under 3:30 and a final goal of finishing. If the marathon was 22 miles I would have made it as I ran great up until that point. The wheels fell off at 22 miles and I did the classic death march for the remainder of the race. I crossed at 3:25 and was glad to be done.

The 2010 Gasparilla marathon was the 10th and final running of this race. They are going to keep the other three distances but have decided to no longer run the marathon. I am glad that I ran the final race and wish they were keeping this race as it was a great course, great weather and well organized."